KARACHI: An uneasy calm returned to strife-hit areas of Karachi on Saturday, though random incidents of armed and arson attacks left two people dead and sowed fears in different neighborhoods.

Vehicles were seen plying on road in Khokrapar area of Malir, but major markets remained closed because of funeral of two Muttahida Qaumi Movement activists who were killed in Friday’ attacks. Two young men were shot dead and another injured in Buffer Zone after midnight. Police said armed men on motorbikes intercepted three friends Owais, Raheel and Salahuddin near a shopping centre and fired multiple shots.

“The firing left Owais and Raheel dead while Salahuddin was badly injured,” a police official said.

On Saturday morning, Tahir Shah was found shot dead in near Saudia Colony in Malir, which saw ferocious gunbattles on Friday.

Officials said Rangers and police had been rushed to Khokrapar No 1 and 2, Ammar-i-Tasir Housing Society, Jaffar Tayyar Housing Society and Jinnah Square.

Fear and tension gripped old city areas, where gunmen targeted a lawyer who was going home in his car. “Advocate Mukhtar Hussain Bukhari was attacked near Bheempura by the armed riders,” said an official at the Eidgah police station.

He said the lawyer had sustained three bullets and died while being treated at the Civil Hospital. The victim, in his mid-40s, was a resident of Korangi and father of four. The legal fraternity and religious organisations condemned the incident and termed it a failure of the security administration. Karachi Bar Association president Muhammad Aqil said lawyers would hold a demonstration on Monday in protest against the killing.

“The government has failed to curb the violence and take action against the banned outfits which are involved in the killings,” said religious scholars Abbass Kumaili and Maulana Hasan Zafar Naqvi in a joint statement issued by the Majlis-i-Wahdatul Muslimeen.

A minibus was set on fire on the main Abul Hassan Isphahani Road, near Abbass Town, on Saturday night. Intense gunfire was reported from the area as well as Block-17 of Federal B. area, where traders pulled down shutters and vehicles disappeared from roads.

COMMITTEE: President Asif Ali Zardari has constituted a four-member committee to hold talks with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and other coalition partners to restore normality in Karachi and other parts of Sindh. According to sources, the committee comprises Syed Khurshid Shah, Agha Siraj Durrani, Ayaz Soomro and Qadir Patel. It will hold meetings with leaders of the MQM, ANP, PML-F and PML-Q to address their concerns on various issues and convey to them PPP’s own concerns.

The decision to form the committee was taken at a meeting of the PPP’s Sindh core committee at the Bilawal House on Saturday. It was attended by Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Home Minister Manzoor Wassan, Information Minister Sharjeel Memon, Shazia Marri and Saifullah Dharejo.

According to sources, President Zardari expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order in Karachi and stressed the need for pursuing the PPP’s policy of reconciliation.

Mr Wassan, who had met the President on Friday night, briefed the meeting on the situation. A proposal for amending the local government laws after the passage of bills in the Sindh Assembly was also discussed and different options wereconsidered to address the concerns of stakeholders.